Mainstream News

New EPA chief: Can we stop talking about regulations killing jobs, please?

"'Can we stop talking about environmental regulations killing jobs, please?' McCarthy said in a speech at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Embracing the need to cut carbon emissions should be seen not as a threat but as a 'way to spark business innovation,' she said. At the heart of Obama’s plan will be new EPA regulations that will target carbon emissions from existing power plants, which account for more than one-third of U.S. greenhouse gases and in many cases are fired by coal. McCarthy said the agency will try to replicate the success it had with the U.S. automotive industry." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew EPA chief: Can we stop talking about regulations killing jobs, please?

American Dream Slipping as Homeownership at 18-Year Low

"Housing industry and consumer groups are pressing lawmakers to make the American Dream more inclusive by ensuring new mortgage standards designed to prevent another crash are flexible enough that more families can benefit from the recovery. Regulators are close to proposing a softened version of a rule requiring banks to keep a stake in risky mortgages they securitize. Lawmakers currently shaping housing finance are seeking to reduce the government’s role in keeping rates affordable for riskier borrowers while ensuring homeownership is within reach of minorities and first-time buyers who could be needed to sustain the housing recovery." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican Dream Slipping as Homeownership at 18-Year Low

‘Find a safe haven,’ father tells Snowden in Russia

"'Edward, I hope you are watching this. Your family is well. We love you. We hope you are healthy, we hope you are well, I hope to see you soon, but most of all I want you to be safe. I want you to find a safe haven,' Lon Snowden said in an interview broadcast on Rossiya24 channel. In the interview dubbed into Russian, Lon Snowden said he hoped his son would return home one day. But he said that events over the past few weeks suggested that there were no guarantees of a fair trial in the United States, and that he therefore agreed with his son’s decision to remain in Russia." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald Tears Into Toobin Over Manning, Snowden

"Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald faced off against CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin over the sentencing of ex-Army private Bradley Manning and his acquittal on the charge of 'aiding the enemy.' Greenwald brought up Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and people who exposed Bush administration scandals, telling Toobin that if he's going to make all these assertions about what whistleblowers shouldn't do, 'you're essentially calling for the end of investigative journalism.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald Tears Into Toobin Over Manning, Snowden

UBS to repay Swiss government bailout loan

"The move draws a line under the Swiss government's rescue of UBS nearly five years ago. At the time the country’s biggest bank faced collapse over more than $50 billion in losses on mortgage securities. The central bank’s fund was set up to bail out UBS at the height of the financial crisis. The government took a nine percent stake in UBS as part of the bailout comprising six billion francs of equity and a loan from the Swiss National Bank (SNB). UBS spun off $38.7 billion of risky assets into the fund. UBS last week announced its quarterly profit would exceed analysts’ expectations, even after paying $885 million to settle a lawsuit in the United States." Continue reading →

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Deutsche Bank to Cut Assets $332 Billion as Profit Slides

"Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), continental Europe’s biggest bank, said it will shrink its balance sheet by 250 billion euros ($332 billion), joining Barclays Plc (BARC) and UBS AG (UBSN) in seeking to comply with stricter capital rules. Deutsche Bank will reduce leverage by changing the way it accounts for derivatives and by winding down a 73 billion-euro portfolio of assets. Co-Chief Executive Officer Anshu Jain has been offloading riskier assets, firing staff and raising capital by selling shares as lingering doubts about the ability of Europe’s banks to withstand another financial crisis prompted regulators and shareholders to demand stronger finances." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeutsche Bank to Cut Assets $332 Billion as Profit Slides

6% Treasury yields? May come sooner than you think

"The Federal Reserve will lose control of interest rates as the "great rotation" out of bonds into equities takes off in full force, according to one market watcher, who sees U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hitting 5-6 percent in the next 18-24 months. 'It is our opinion that interest rates have begun their assent, that the Fed will eventually lose control of interest rates. The yield curve will first steepen and then will shift, moving rates significantly higher,' said Mike Crofton, President and CEO, Philadelphia Trust Company told CNBC on Wednesday. Under this scenario, he sees the yield on the 10-year rising to 3.5-4 percent in a 'very short period of time.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading6% Treasury yields? May come sooner than you think

5,000 Chinese factory workers strike over Indian takeover of American firm

"Cooper Tire and Rubber announced last month that it would be taken over by Apollo Tyres of India, making the combined group the seventh-largest such firm in the world. But thousands of staff at Cooper Chengshan, a joint venture in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, have walked out in protest, the Xinhua news agency said late Tuesday. It is the latest incident to hit a foreign joint venture after Chinese workers held an American factory executive hostage for nearly a week in late June over a plan by his US-based medical supply company to lay off 30 workers." Continue reading →

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Copper theft ‘like an epidemic’ sweeping US

"An electrical power station in Wichita, Kan., or half a dozen middle-class homes in Morris Township, N.J. Even on a Utah highway construction site, crooks managed to abscond with six miles of copper wire. Those are just a handful of recent targets across the U.S. in the $1 billion business of copper theft. The five leading states for the thefts are Ohio, Texas, Georgia, California and Illinois, the NICB said. The FBI says copper theft is 'threatening U.S. critical infrastructure by targeting electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCopper theft ‘like an epidemic’ sweeping US

Countering rupee devaluation: Pakistani govt slaps temporary ban on gold imports

"In an attempt to address steep devaluation of the rupee against the dollar, Pakistan on Tuesday temporarily banned import of gold to save the precious foreign currency reserves. The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, took the decision to ban the import of the yellow metal for one month with immediate effect. After the Indian government’s decision to discourage gold import by imposing 8% duties, the buyers had shifted to Pakistan where the commodity was allowed to be imported duty free since 2001." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCountering rupee devaluation: Pakistani govt slaps temporary ban on gold imports